New Delhi, May 8 : India's U-17 women's football team head coach Thomas Dennerby has praised the efforts put in by his players who are training at their homes by following the fitness regime laid down by him during the lockdown period.

With the country in the midst of a coronavirus-forced lockdown, the players have returned home, and so has Dennerby. However, before getting back to Sweden, he had given his wards a fitness regime to follow at their homes. Dennerby, who is currently in Stockholm city in Sweden, conducted an online video meeting with the players and support staff. "The girls already had a very detailed fitness program which was provided to them earlier.

They report to Per (Karlsson, the team's fitness coach) and all other staff also follow. I follow the daily reports and we can see that the girls work very hard. I'm really impressed. "With the players, it was more a social relationship meeting. Just saying hello and encouraging everyone to keep on training hard," said the Swedish coach, who has previously led the senior national women's teams of Sweden and Nigeria at the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Dennerby said the players need to be encouraged to maintain calm and not worry about missing training. "I told them to keep on training with focus, follow the fitness program they have and to report to the staff about what they do every day. Also, I asked them to stay calm and not worry about missing training sessions,'' he said. The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2020 was scheduled to take place in India from November 2-21, 2020 across five cities - Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Navi Mumbai.

However, it has been postponed following a decision by the FIFA-Confederations working group because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the world, and the LOC, AIFF and FIFA are working on finalising future dates for the tournament. (UNI)